“Can a purpose-built, OCC-chartered trust bank become the default banking rail for autonomous AI agents transacting under deterministic human policy?”
Catena Labs was founded in 2022 by Circle co-founder Sean Neville and former Circle SVP Matt Venables to build a financial institution purpose-built for AI agents. The company operates today through regulated banking partners while pursuing a national trust bank charter from the OCC, which it received conditional approval for in 2026. Its architecture combines identity, deterministic policy governance, non-custodial digital-asset accounts (via Turnkey), and stablecoin/fiat payments so that autonomous agents can transact under human-defined rules.
Catena has applied for a national trust bank charter for Catena Trust Bank, N.A. with the OCC. Status: conditional approval (2026-09-18).
Catena moves money over ACH.
Catena's lending and capital products are provided by affirm.
Catena uses Airwallex for FX and cross-border payouts.
Catena's crypto products run on Turnkey.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 5 layers in Catena's stack: Money movement (ACH); Lending (affirm); FX & payouts (Airwallex); Crypto (Turnkey); Spend / AP (Brex).
Catena was founded by Sean Neville and Matt Venables and is founded in 2022, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Catena has raised $48M in total (latest round: Series A, 2026 ($30M)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Catena and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.